Kodachi Kuno (Continuum-32145896)
Kodachi Kuno (九能 小太刀, Kunō Kodachi?) is the lover of Kasumi Tendo. She is the younger sister of Tatewaki Kuno and the daughter of Principal Kuno. History Known as "The Black Rose" (黒薔薇の小太刀, Kurobara no kodachi?) in the gymnastics community, Kodachi is presented as Tatewaki Kuno's sister and a student at St. Hebereke's School for Girls (St. Bacchus School for Girls in the manga). This is in contrast to her brother and several members of the regular cast, who attend the co-ed Furinkan High School. As a master of Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics and captain of the school's team, she often preemptively attacks her opponents with various weapons, including swords or a giant mallet to cripple them, thus winning by default. She calls it "fighting in all fairness before the match." Kodachi had seldom, if ever, lost a match before battling Ranma as a result of this practice. When these failed, she has also resorted to the use of more devious methods, once attempting to shake her foe's hand with thumbtacks between her fingers. She is especially fond of using paralysis gas and sleeping powders on people, even when she has no apparent motivation to do so. Kodachi becomes enamoured with male Ranma after the latter acts as her 'knight in shining armour' by saving her from falling off the roof of the Tendo Dojo. However she gave it up due to mutual respect for Nabiki and eventually started to gain feeling for Kasumi. Character Kodachi is a good cook who prepares elaborate meals that seem to be based in French cuisine. powder. She uses her culinary expertise to her advantage by placing poisons, toxins, serums, and other strange substances in her victims' food to attain something she wants from them. She apparently has a strong flair for the dramatic. When entering and leaving a scene or leaping throughout the city, she is regularly accompanied by a small stream of black rose petals billowing about her, complemented by a shrill, maniacal cackle that is one of her trademarks. But if she has to or otherwise feels like it, Kodachi is more than capable of acting like a perfectly well-mannered lady, and a first class host. Kodachi seems to enjoy spending time in the extensive gardens of the Kuno estate. She has experimented with rose extractions for years, building on her father's earlier research while seeking to avoid falling into the trap that afflicted him when his mind was lost to the pure extract of the black powder. She knows just how much to use to have the desired effect as she has conducted experiments to assure herself of its efficaciousness and safety. She is particularly fond of the area near the large pond, where she keeps her giant pet crocodile, whom she has lovingly named Mr. Turtle (or Mr. Green Turtle). As her brother has expressed, Kodachi's manga incarnation is shown as quite twisted. She's been more than willing to ambush and beat up rival schoolgirls, and use potentially lethal weaponry during her matches. Hitome Kuno was a perfectionist, of sorts, and fate was cruel to her when she was denied her life's dream of becoming a great gymnast. She wanted to participate in the Olympics, to win the honor and glory that was her due, but for a cruel accident that caused her an injury that ended her dreams forever. So she sought to live her dreams through Kodachi, which is why she drove her so hard to be as good as she ever was, even better. But normal gymnastics were not good enough for her. She enrolled Kodachi into the combat version of the art that combined martial arts with full body agility and the use of weapons to avoid body-contact with an opponent. Hitome did things to her children that made life hard on everybody. Godai was a businessman and seldom home to spend time with them as a family. Hitome tried to occupy herself as best she could...but she started to believe that Godai was carrying on an affair, and she took it out on Kodachi and Tachi. Hitome had a way of expressing her displeasure...with the both of them. Tachi she wanted to be a man, and in some ways she drove him into his fantasy world where he is a noble Samurai from a previous generation. With Kodachi...she would use whatever it took to motivate me to try harder, to master the more intricate techniques of Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics. Sometimes it was by use of her cane...and other times...she would lock her into the cupboard and not let her out until she was certain Kodachi had learned her lesson. Kodachi studied harder and became as good as Hitome wanted...and then one day she completed a particularly difficult and complex maneuver and was so overcome with joy that she went in search of her mother to tell her of her success. Kodachi found her on the floor of one of the studies. She used a tanto, a traditional weapon for ritual Seppuku.. Kodachi kept up her studies in Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics, because she had nothing else to connect her with her mother after that dark day. She tried to help her brother but only made things worse for him. Kodachi had as much of her father in her as her mother, and at an early age she took an interest in Chemistry and Botany, mainly because they were the only things she and her father had in common. He actually explained things to her in terms that she could understand, and he made it all sound so fascinating…and it turned out that Kodachi was very talented in growing leafy things for their garden. Of course she tended to the roses in her father's greenhouse, and was present when he made his discoveries about the medicinal effects that could be derived from Black Rose petal extracts. Only at the time neither one of them knew about the unfortunate…side effects of the derivative compounds…and as a consequence of tampering with things half understood, Godai drove himself insane taking the very drugs that he himself created. Kodachi would later refine the extracts to create a kind of paralysis powder that could also be converted to an effective neural inhibitor and mood suppressant…and…she even experimented with the powder in an early raw phase…by feeding a little of it to her mother. She only wanted to make her mother feel normal again, to take away her depression, but instead…it seemed to create the opposite effect in her…and a short time after this…she committed seppuku. Kodachi compounded this wrong by taking the drugs for herself to dull the pain and deny the guilt that she was feeling, and to keep Tatewaki from finding out. Nevertheless she is not completely unreasonable as she was perfectly willing to aid Nabiki in her training for her Martial Arts Skating match. She even outright gave up her infatuation with Ranma after Nabiki warned her of Shampoo’s return. Before she met Kasumi Kodachi believed that there was only ugliness in the world, only selfishness and cruelty, and anyone who did not feel the same was either a fool or avoiding the truth that she thought was my existence. It is only since meeting Kasumi that she has come to understand that the sickness was with her mother. There is no selfishness in Kasumi, no cruelty, only infinite kindness. She makes Kodachi feel...warm inside, the way no one else ever has, and she cannot bear that Kasumi might think ill of her which is why she started to get her act together and stop taking drugs. Abilities Kodachi is an expert in Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics, making her skilled in acrobatics and weapon use in the form of ribbons, balls, clubs, hoops, and ropes, although her ribbon is her most commonly used weapon. She is incredibly agile and will typically make an aerial entrance or exit. A very cunning individual, she is not averse to using unorthodox methods in combat such as rigged weapons, explosives and various poisons. In competition, certain techniques of hers were construed as cheating, like using hidden spikes in her club. But she used them so skillfully that the judge couldn't notice them when pointed out. Her teammates also had to leave after being discovered to be helping her move the arena. On the other hand, disguising a steel rod as a rope, or throwing her brother at Ranma, were within the main framework, which simply prohibits barehanded attacks. Kodachi has been shown to wear her characteristic leotard under virtually all her clothing, presumably because it permits a superior range of motion while in combat. * Black Rose Blizzard: Kodachi's most commonly seen technique, typically used for her exits. Using her ribbon, she generates a storm of black rose petals, which can also be used to screen an escape. * Paralysis powder: One of Kodachi's trademarks, capable of incapacitating anyone. She has slipped the powder into tea or distributed it via bouquets of black roses. * Rose bombs: Bombs in the form of black roses which are thrown like darts. Category:(Continuum-32145896)